Should a woman's testosterone level matter in sport?

Updated 9:01 AM ET, Fri August 12, 2016

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Photos:Should a woman's testosterone level matter in sport?

The line-up of athletes along a start line will vary in a multitude of ways, including height, weight, age, and proportion. This variation is part of sporting culture -- but this hasn't always been the case when it comes to the hormone testosterone.

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Photos:Should a woman's testosterone level matter in sport?

Women with naturally high levels of testosterone (hyperandrogenism) were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games between 2011 and 2015, until Indian 100m runner Dutee Chand challenged IAAF regulations. Here, Chand poses with her winning medal after victory in the 100 meter race during the Federation Cup National Athletics Championship in New Delhi in 2016.

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Photos:Should a woman's testosterone level matter in sport?

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in Chand's favor, arguing that the IAAF had not proven that testosterone gives athletes an unfair advantage. The IAAF was given two more years to find evidence. Here, Chand (right) competes in the Women's 60 meters heats during the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon.

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Photos:Should a woman's testosterone level matter in sport?

The decision also meant that South African runner Caster Semenya (pictured) -- a fellow athlete with naturally high levels of testosterone -- was able to compete without being forced to take testosterone suppressing drugs. Here, Semenya celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's 800 meters Final during the World Athletics Championships in 2009.

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Photos:Should a woman's testosterone level matter in sport?

In 2009, when Semenya was 18, she won gold in the women's 800m at the 2009 World Athletics Championship in Berlin. Her victory was marred by widespread scrutiny of her gender, with the IAAF launching an investigation hours after the race finished. Her gender and testosterone levels were tested and although she was allowed to keep her gold medal, the IAAF ultimately enforced the Hyperandrogenism Regulation in 2011.

Pictured, far right, is Ewa Klobukowska of Poland, during the women's 100m final at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Klobukowska helped set a world record in the women's 4x100m relay. However, her record was discounted in 1967 after the IAAF found her to have "one chromosome too many" -- an extra Y chromosome, in addition to the traditional XX female chromosomes -- during a gender test.

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Women with naturally high levels of testosterone were once banned from competing at the Olympic Games. But should hormones matter at the elite level?